


A Game of Cards

by DeckofDragons



Series: Strangest Universe [2]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Gambling, M/M, Strip Poker
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-05
Updated: 2017-02-05
Packaged: 2018-09-22 04:40:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,342
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9584015
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DeckofDragons/pseuds/DeckofDragons
Summary: Lust tricks Edge into playing a game of strip poker with him.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know how far in the future this is but it's probably at least a few months. A more immediate sequel will come in the future, I just happened to finish this first.
> 
> Also I know next to nothing about poker in general so if anything's off about their game, that's probably why.

“Yo Edge,” Lust said as he approached Edge with a grin on his face. The kind of grin that made it obvious he was up to something and whatever it was Edge probably wasn’t going to like it.

“What do you want?” Edge asked, holding back a groan of annoyance. He’d been minding his own business doing a whole lot nothing and about to take a nap on the couch. Why’d Lust have to come bother him?

“I wanna ask if you would like to play some cards with me?” Lust replied.

“And why would I wanna do that?”

“I don’t know, for something to do maybe. We are the only ones here after all, might as well find a way to entertain ourselves.”

That was true. Blueberry had gone to the grocery store a little while ago and probably wouldn’t be back for at least another hour. Paps and Pink were who even knew where. So, Edge had thought he’d been home alone. But apparently not.

“Normally, you’d be begging for sex in a situation like this,” Edge said. It was suspicious that Lust wasn’t doing that, since that seemed to be the only thing on his mind most of the time.

“First of all, I’ve never begged anyone for sex and I never will. I just ask or hint at it. Second, if ya wanna have sex instead I’m totally down for that too.”

“No,” Edge snapped. Why had he even brought that up?

“That’s what I’d thought you’d say. So, let’s play some cards instead.” Lust had to be pulling some kind of trick here. There was no way he was just bored and wanted something to do. “We could even make the game interesting. Ya know, play for real stakes.”

“You’re gonna suggest strip poker, aren’t ya?” Edge guessed.

“Yep,” Lust said with a grin. Of course that’s what he’d been leading up to. He just wanted to see Edge naked because he was a gross disgusting pervert. “But if ya think about it, it’s really not that big a risk for ya. I mean considering how badly ya beat me last time we played cards.”

“Yeah, but then I’d have to see _you_ naked and I don’t want that.”

“How ‘bout this then. Every round I lose I give ya fifty gold instead. Every round you lose, you take off an article of clothing. The game ends and a winner is declared either when I run out of money or you’re completely naked.”

Edge almost flat out declined but didn’t. He could beat Lust at poker, he’d done so pretty handedly before. And losing here would probably upset Lust at least a little bit. Maybe even enough for him to lose his annoying attitude for a while. If anyone needed to be brought down a peg it was Lust.

“Fine, let’s do it,” he said. He could even cheat to give himself an advantage. So, really there was very little risk on his part.

“Wonderful,” Lust said with a confident grin. It almost made Edge worried, but surely that was just Lust being cocky and dumb. He didn’t stand a snowball’s chance in hell of winning.

Lust led the way out of the living room and into the dining room. They sat at the table across from each other. Lust pulled a deck of cards out of one of his pockets and the game began.

The first three rounds went exactly as expected, Edge won by a large margin. And as promised, Lust slid a fifty-gold piece towards Edge every time, never once losing his look of confidence. By the fourth round Edge was a hundred percent certain that he had this in the bag. Which was why he was so surprised when he lost instead.

“What the fuck?” he said, unable to believe he’d actually lost.

“You lost,” Lust said. “That means ya gotta take off an article of clothing. Unless ya wanna forfeit.”

“Fuck no I’m not gonna forfeit.” There was no way Edge was going let Lust walk away from this with _any_ amount of satisfaction. It was only one round, it didn’t mean anything. Lust had gotten lucky, that’s all.

Edge stood up to slip his jacket off. He draped it across the back of his chair, already missing its weight on his shoulders.

“Ah, why couldn’t ya have made it a show?” Lust asked with fake disappointment.

Edge didn’t bother dignifying that with a response as he sat back down. Any reply he could’ve made would’ve only encouraged Lust in his quest to be the most annoying person possible.

The next few rounds went Edge’s way. But then he lost again. Refusing to let it bother him, he took off one of his shoes. It was a good thing he was still in the habit of wearing them almost everywhere, even inside the house.

“Ah, really?” Lust said with real disappointment this time. “C’mon, at least take off both shoes.”

“Nah, I don’t think I will,” Edge said.

“Oh, all right then,” Lust conceded with a sigh.

Expecting to win the next round, Edge was more than a little surprised and annoyed when he lost again. How could he lose two times in a row to Lust of all people? Lust was supposed to be _bad_ at this game. He’d proven it last time they’d played cards and during the rounds he’d lost this time too. How did he get lucky two times in a row?

“Gotta take off that other shoe now,” Lust said with an infuriating grin.

“I know.” Edge tried to keep the anger and annoyance out of his voice but failed. He pulled his other shoe off and placed it on the floor beside the first one, barely resisting the urge to throw it at Lust’s stupid face. “How much fucking money ya got left?”

“Let’s see.” Lust pulled out a small cloth bag and dumped its contents on the table to the side of where they were playing. It was all fifty-gold pieces, a quick count showed that there were only ten left. “Ya still comfortable to continue? Or do ya wanna quit in case ya lose again and have to take off your shirt or something?”

“And let you fucking win? Yeah, no, fuck that shit.” There was _no_ way Edge was going forfeit and let Lust win, no fucking way. What were the chances of Lust getting lucky again anyway? Edge could beat him, he had years of practice at cheating on his side after all.

Edge won the next five rounds. All he had to do was win five more times and he’d have beat Lust at his own game. He could do that, no problem.

But the next round he lost again.

“You’re cheating,” Edge said. Lust had to be cheating there was no way he’d be able to beat Edge otherwise, even with luck.

“Ya say that like you’re not,” Lust replied. He was unfazed by Edge’s acquisition, neither confirming nor denying it.

Edge couldn’t reply to that because he _was_ cheating. He’d been cheating from the very beginning. Not a whole lot at first, just enough to give him a slight advantage. But since he’d lost for the third time he’d been cheating as much as he could, not even bothering to hide it all that well.

“Now ya gotta take off another piece of clothing,” Lust said after a few seconds when Edge didn’t reply.

Edge hesitated. The only pieces of clothing he had left on were his shirt and pants. Neither of which he wanted to take off in front of Lust.

“Ya could always quit if ya want to,” Lust said. “If the thought of getting undressed in front of me really upsets ya that much then ya don’t have to.” He didn’t sound at all like he would judge Edge or rub it in if he did chose to quit.

Edge almost accepted his offer to back down, he _really_ didn’t want to do this. But he couldn’t bring himself to just give up like that. He hated the thought of accepting defeat in general let alone to someone like Lust. No, he wasn’t going to sit back and let Lust win. He had to keep going until either he lost for real or won, hopefully the latter.

“I hate you,” he said under his breath, but still loud enough that Lust should’ve been able to hear him. Taking a deep breath, he hesitated again for a few seconds before pulling his shirt off over his head in one quick motion.

After placing the shirt to the side, he crossed his arms over his chest to try to cover himself as much as he could. He felt cold all of a sudden and couldn’t bear to even glance in Lust’s direction.

“C’mon now, no need to be shy,” Lust said. He probably had an annoying perverted grin on his face. He’d gotten at least part of what he wanted after all.

Edge didn’t reply. He wasn’t being shy. It was just that Blueberry was the only other person who’d seen him shirtless before. And he would’ve much rather had it stay that way.

“Your scars are _hot_ ,” Lust said. “I can’t even imagine what ya had to go through to get them but they’re sexy as fuck.”

“Shut up,” Edge growled. There was nothing ‘sexy’ or ‘hot’ about the scars covering his body. They were nothing more than a testament to his fucked up past and he hated them for that.

“Nah, for reals dude,” Lust said, not at all upset that Edge had growled at him. “Ya don’t gotta be ashamed of them. Whatever ya went through to get them probably sucked. But that doesn’t mean they make ya ugly or anything. Like I said, you’re hot.”

Warring with anger and embarrassment that left him feeling stressed out, Edge finally glanced up at Lust. He looked to be totally sincere. He hadn’t even said it in a flirtatious manner, stating it as if it were a fact instead.

“Shut the fuck up,” Edge growled at him again. “Let’s just play the next fucking round so we can get this shit over with as soon as possible.” Edge was going to win, he had to. His pride was on the line. He hadn’t unintentionally lost a game of cards in years. And no way was he going to do so now against Lust of all people.

“All right, okay,” Lust said in an amused tone. “No need to get all upset.”

But before they could actually start they were interrupted by the sound of the front door opening in the other room. A few seconds later Blueberry walked in carrying several grocery bags.

“Oh, hey guys,” he said with a smile. “What’s uh going on here?”

“We’re playing poker.” Lust went on to explain the rules they had set.

“Well, I’m glad you guys are finally getting along and having fun together,” Blueberry said. That comment had mostly been aimed at Edge. Blueberry had been trying to convince him to be nice to Lust ever since Lust and his brother had shown up to visit about a week ago. Lust on the other hand had been _way_ too friendly with both Blueberry and Edge, for Edge to ever want to be nice to him.

“He’s cheating,” Edge said. As far as he was concerned this didn’t count as them getting along. And he certainly wasn’t having any fun even if Lust probably was.

“Oh, c’mon now Edge. You’re gonna accuse me of cheating when you’ve been cheating since round one?” Lust didn’t sound the slightest bit upset about that.

“You guys shouldn’t be cheating when you’re playing for real stuff,” Blueberry scolded them. “It’s not that big a deal when you’re just playing for fun and no one’s going to get hurt by it. But it’s different when you’re gambling for real money… or I guess pieces of clothing.”

“Nah, I went into this game knowing he was going to cheat like his life depended on it. So, really at this point it’s just part of the game,” Lust said.

“That doesn’t make it okay and neither of you should be doing it. But I guess there’s probably I can do to stop you.” Blueberry sighed. “Also Edge, are you sure you’re all right with this? Strip poker doesn’t seem like the kind of thing you’d normally want to do.”

“He tricked me into it,” Edge said. And like a moron Edge had fallen for it. So, this situation was partially his own fault, even if he did want to blame it entirely on Lust.

“He can stop any time he wants,” Lust said. “So, even if I did trick him into playing I’m not forcing him to continue if he doesn’t wanna.”

“Yeah, but if I quit that’d be letting you win. And there’s no way that’s ever gonna happen,” Edge said, glaring at Lust.

Part of Edge was hoping Blueberry would offer him a way out that still kept him from having to admit defeat. Like asking him to help put away the groceries or something similar. Heck if Blueberry asked him to clean the entire house right now he would probably do it to get out of having to finish his game with Lust.

“Well okay, if you’re sure you’re all right with this,” Blueberry said, crushing Edge’s hope for a free way out. “Just don’t let him pressure you into doing anything that’s going to stress you out too much. Now, you two play nice. I’ll be in the kitchen putting the groceries away if you need me.” He gave Edge a quick kiss before disappearing into the kitchen.

“Let’s continue, shall we?” Lust said once he was gone.

“Yeah sure, whatever I guess.” Edge sighed in annoyance. He just had to win against Lust for five more rounds and then he’d be declared the overall winner. What were the chances of that happening though? This entire game had clearly been planned out by Lust right from the very beginning. Every round Edge had won had probably been allowed by Lust to toy with him or to make sure he continued.

“Let’s make this the last round,” Lust said. He stacked his last five fifty-gold pieces in a pile and placed it in the middle of the table between them.

Edge groaned. Chances of him winning were probably nonexistent. Meaning not only would he lose the game as a whole but he’d also have to let Lust see him naked. Both things he wished he’d never had to do.

“You’ve been playing me from the very start haven’t ya?” he said. “Even back when we played cards the first time. You pretended to be awful so that ya could trick me into this game.”

“If that was my plan it’s certainly worked.”

“You probably could’ve won this whole game without losing a single round.” Edge knew that had to be the case. That’s why Lust had been so confident right from the very beginning. He’d been in control of the game since round one.

This whole-time Edge had thought Lust was nothing but a perverted idiot. But it turns out that that wasn’t the case at all. Lust was actually a perverted master mind. He wasn’t bad at cards like Edge had thought, but instead the best card player Edge had ever played against. Better than Edge himself was.

He simultaneously hated Lust a little more and a little less because of this. More because Lust had outsmarted him, causing him to fall for his tricks and end up in this situation. And less because it meant Lust wasn’t stupid, just perverted and annoying.

“Maybe,” Lust said. “But if I had tried for that ya would’ve backed out early on. And then I never would’ve gotten to see how sexy you are under all that clothing you’re always wearing.”

“Whatever, let’s just play.” Edge groaned. He was going to lose this unless he somehow got _very_ lucky. That wasn’t very likely though. But even knowing that he couldn’t forfeit and admit defeat. He’d lost enough of his dignity already with falling for Lust’s tricks in the first place and being forced to take his shirt off in front of him.

Fully expecting to lose without any shadow of a doubt, Edge was astounded when he won instead. He hadn’t even bothered cheating to improve his odds that time. Lust was a far better player than him so there’d be no point.

“It seems ya gonna get to keep your pants on after all,” Lust said, sliding the stack of gold coins towards Edge.

“You let me win,” Edge accused him.

“Maybe I did. Or maybe you misjudged me and I’m actually not as good as ya think I am.” Lust winked at him.

Why had Lust showed him mercy here? He’d had the perfect opportunity to humiliate Edge by getting to see him naked. Why had he not taken it? He was a pervert, the whole point of challenging Edge to this game had been to see him naked, right? Or was he really somehow satisfied with just seeing Edge without his shirt on?

“Congrats on winning pal. It was fun. We should do this again sometime.” Lust held out his hand. Edge reluctantly shook it. He couldn’t pretend he wasn’t super relieved that Lust had let him win. Even if he couldn’t even begin to fathom what Lust’s reasons for doing so were. He was just grateful that he got to keep some measure of his dignity intact. And if anyone asked he didn’t have to tell them that Lust had let him win. He could say he’d won because he was the better player, even if that was a lie.

“And maybe next time,” Lust continued. “we could get more people and play _proper_ strip poker.”

There was no way Edge was ever going to play any kind of card game with him ever again. Even if it was something innocent like go fish.

Deciding to ignore Lust for now, Edge scooped up all his winnings and slipped them in small money pouch. “Guess what Blueberry,” he said walking into the kitchen, holding the bag up. “I won.”

“Congratulations.” Blueberry turned away from the pantry where he was putting away what looked to be the last of the groceries to smile at Edge. “You didn’t cheat though, did you?”

“For once I actually didn’t.” Of course, the only reason he _hadn’t_ cheated was because he’d thought it wouldn’t have made a difference. But Blueberry didn’t need to know that.

“Good, I’m proud of you.” Blueberry skipped over to give him a quick hug and kiss. “Now are you going to go put your clothes back on?”

“Oh uh, yeah.” Edge blushed at realizing he was still only wearing pants. After placing his newfound gold on the kitchen counter, he ducked back into the dining room to retrieve his clothing. He pointedly ignored Lust’s eyes on him as he put his shirt and jacket back on.

He was just in time too. Almost as soon as he’d finished pulling his coat back onto his shoulders, Paps and Pink teleported in from wherever they’d been before.

“Hey guys,” Pink greeted them. “Did we miss anything interesting?”

“Nope,” Edge said quickly before Lust could reply with the truth that no one else ever needed to know about. “Just me beating Lust at cards, no big deal.”

“Actually…” Lust began before Edge cut him off.

“Nothing interesting happened during that card game,” he said. “So, we’re not gonna talk about it.”

“All right,” Paps said with a look that said he’d probably ask Lust about it later when Edge wasn’t around to stop him from talking about it. But at least he wasn’t going to insist on discussing it in front of Edge, small mercy that that was. “Let’s watch some T.V. instead then.”


End file.
